Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro puts new jail on front burner

POUGHKEEPSIE -- Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro is moving forward with a controversial plan to build a new jail.

Members of the county Legislature will meet at 5 p.m. Tuesday as a "committee of the whole" to consider a resolution proposed by the Molinaro administration to issue $1.2 million in bonds to pay for the planning and design of a new county jail. The Freeman will cover the meeting live at www.dailyfreeman.com.

At the meeting, RicciGreene Associates, the firm hired to conduct an independent evaluation of the Dutchess County Criminal Justice Council's 2012 report recommending the construction of a new jail, will present its findings. The council proposed building a new jail on a 15-acre site on the grounds of the former Hudson River Psychiatric Center in the town of Poughkeepsie. Its preliminary estimate of the cost of a new jail was $75.8 million to $126 million.

RicciGreene is expected to detail its analyses and recommendations related to jail population growth, existing jail populations, new jail models, construction costs, potential building sites and projected staffing. The presentation will include the analysis of temporary "housing pods," as well as various options, costs, recommendations and suggested next steps.

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Although Molinaro's office declined to release the resolution prior to the meeting, the fact that his administration is asking lawmakers to spend up to $1.2 million to design a new jail suggests RicciGreene Associates agrees with the council's proposal to build a new jail.

Dutchess County has grappled with overcrowding at its jail for nearly four decades, but efforts to study a potential expansion were blocked at times by former County Executive William Steinhaus and at times by county legislators.

As a result of the county's inaction in addressing the overcrowding problem, the state Commission of Correction, which oversees county jail operations in New York, in 2005 stopped issuing variances that allowed the county to house inmates in excess of the facility's 257-person capacity. Since then, the county has been forced to pay other counties to take in Dutchess County's overflow inmates.

On Thursday, Dutchess County had 457 inmates. Of those, 196 were being housed in jails outside the county.

County Legislator Joel Tyner, one of the most vocal opponents to new jail construction, said Friday that the county wouldn't need new jail space if it would work harder to reduce recidivism among inmates.

"They're willing to flush tens of millions of our tax dollars down the drain on a jail expansion we don't need," said Tyner, D-Clinton.

Tyner said the Legislature's Republican majority is more interested in bricks and mortar than in funding programs, such as the general equivalency diploma program for inmates, a "fathers behind bars" program or programs for at-risk youths that could help reduce the jail population.

Tyner said opponents of building a new jail will rally outside the Dutchess County Office Building on Market street in Poughkeepsie at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.